Needle-operating mechanism for knitting machines



Apl il 21, "1925.

A. LEVITQN ET AL NEEDLE OPERATING MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES FiledJan. 21, 2 3 sheets -sh et l INVENTORE v ATTORNEY3 A ril 21, 19231 A.LEVIT O'N 51'- AL NEEDLE OPERATING MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES and Jn 1, 1925 f 3'Sheets-SHiet" 2 INVENTQRS Km F v. \&

. 1 2 1. 1 314.13 PJZE 5. E; file 'WITNESSES &

- ATroRm-n's April 21, 1925. I 1,534,972

, A. LEVITON ET Al.

NEEDLE OPERATING MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed J n. 21, 2 3Sheets-Sheet 5 g7hl5l &

ATTORNEYS York, borough of Brooklyn,

is a full, clear, and exact signification filed January $21, 1925.serial lilo. secs.

To all whom it may concei'n:

Be it known that We, AnoLis-H LEVI'ION and WILLIAM KAPLAN, citizens ofthe United States, and residents of the city of New in the county ofKings and State of New York, United Stetes of America, have inventedenew and improved Needle-Operating Mechanism for 'Knitting'llllechines,of which the following description.

This invention relates to needle operating mechanism for knittingmachines.

Hitherto in carrying out knitting opens tions for both plain and fancyWork, an

extra. needle bed as Well as an extra set of blenk needles and a set ofspring jacks were einnlo ed. Such aisengement involves consideraoleextraexpense, and has been found tobe impnncticel for rapid operation with eview to the-obtainment of a possible maximum output.

@ne of the objects of the presentinvention therefore is to reduce costsinvolved in incorporating certain. features in e knitting 2 machine forperforming plain and fancy U Work, While at the same time maximizing theont pnt oi" the machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide novel means in a knittingmachine for carrying out needle operations ,resulting in fency Work.

dnotheir object of the invention is to provide an arrangement of lockssuitable for use in the production of fancy work, which locks, in theforward and return movements of "the carriage which supports them,successively reciprocates the needles and 1e turns their related jacksto normal positions respectively for further action thereon by the usualjacquei'ding mechanism.

Gther objects of the invention will appear as the followingspecification is read in connection with the accompanying drawings, inWhich A Figure 1 isa transverse sectional view on line 11 of Figure 2through a portion of a knitting machine and showing the combination ofelements employed in the applicm tion of the present invention.

v Fig; 2 is an inside View of the reciproeating carriage and locks.

Fig. 3 isa. sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 looking inthe direction indicated by the arrows, and showing in dot and dash linesthe relative position of" the needle and jack bed.

and jack bed Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plen oi the needle and showingthejack con.- trolling means.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the locks in forward travelend the different stages of needle and jack movement.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to 5, hot illustrating-the locks in returntravel. and the olifi'erent stages of needle and inch move ment.

Fig. 7 is a detail view showing the relative change in position of oneof the loclzs and a portion oi the needle arresting mesns.

Fig. 8 is a detached perspective view of e. modified form of needlearrest/er.

Fig. 9 is a detail sectional view illustratingthe application andfunction of the modified form ofei'iester shown in Fig. 8.

The Present invention in its application comprises a needle bar or bed10, needles 11 and jacks 12 movably snpported in pairs respectively ingrooves in the bed 10, e

reciprocating carriage 13 which carries the cams commonly known in thetrade as locks, and a pattern or jecquei'ding mechanism 14 which servesto selectively and initially lift the jacks accordin to the fancy atterndesired. Each of t e needles 11 me udes a butt 15 and a tail 16. Each ofthe jacks hes a head 17, butt 18 and tail 19. The needles 11 are freelymovable and are limited in their downward movement by a stop'QO in thenature of a Wire which extends longitudinally of the bed. 10. Means 21in the nature of a convolutc spring extending. longitudinally of the bed10 and attached to the bed at its opposite ends serves for frictionallycontrolling the jacks 12 to hold the some in vdifi'ercnt positions toWhich they are moved. The use of such a spring providcs yieldableportions 22 in contact with each ]21Cl at opposite sides thereof. Theinactive normal relationship of each pair of needles and jacks is one'inwhich the head 17 of each jack is spaced from the tail 16 of eachneedle. The mechanism 14 may be of any preferfed type and serves forimparting to particular jacks 12 an initial movement to positions in thepath of travel of parts of the mechanismto be described.

In order that the stitching or knitting operations of the needlesresulting in fancy work may be carried out after the jacks have been.selectively and initially lifted by the 46 which has a cam and a camfacefiil. is arried at the free end of the post 56.

tion with the butts of the jacks and needles included in the mechanism.A plate 23 is attached as at 24 to the carriage 13 and the said platecarries locks 25,126 and 27. The locks 25 and 27 are identical and eachhas a. cam face 28 and cam face 29. The lock 26 is arranged between thelocks 25 and 27 and has a cam ,face 30 which merges with the cam faces29 of the locks 25 and 27. Each of the locks 25 and 27 has a guide block31 movable in a slot 32 in the plate 23, and a post 33 on the block 31wh ich extends through a slot in the supporting part 34 of the carriageand has alclalnping device 35 applied thereto for effecting adjustmentof the related look. A stitch changing device 36 is adjustably carriedby the part 34 and includes an assemblage of locks '87, 38, 39 and 40which extend through an open ing 41 in the plate 23 in coa'ctiverelationship with the locks 25, 26 and 27. The lock 37 has a cam face 42which conforms to the cam face 30 of the lock 26 adjacent-to which itdisposed in spaced relationship to provide a way 43. The locks 25, 26,27 and 37 may be aptly called the needle looks. The lock 38 is arrangedbelow the lock 37 in spaced relationship and has cam faces 44 and 45.The locks 39 and 40 are arranged between the locks 37 and 38 to be movedinto and out of the space between thelocks 37 and 38 according towhether plain stitching or fancy stitching is desired; the 1ocks 3!) and40 being moved into the space when plain stitching is desired and out ofthe space when fancy stitching is desired. The" movement of the 1ocks39and 40 is accomplished by manipulating a slidable member portion 47coacting with a cam portion 48 on a plate 49 which carries theloclcssfif) and 4.0. Pins 50 on the plate- -ii) are disposedrespectivelyin openings in a wall 51 of the [102152 of device 36. The

use of the pins 50 makes rovision for the. slidabic mounting of the.ocks 39 and 40. The wall 51 carries posts 53 which ektend tln'ough thepart- 3-1 of the carriage and each marries at its true cud an adjustingdevice 54. A jach-rctm'n-locl; 55 is yieldingly mounted on the part 34by virtue of a post as and spring 57 which surrounds the 'post in; andis disposed between the part 34 and the lock itself; the said lockextends through the plate 253 and has a canifface 58 i d An adjustingdevice 60 livolally mounted spring-actuateddevices 161 are carried bythe plate 23 juxtaposed respectivelywith respect to the needlc locks.

lflach device til has a cam .62 normally dis- (posed in thcwa y 425 inadvance of'thc junctih'c between portions of the and 27 respectively..llcfc-rring now to-.li.ig. 5 of the drawings will he set-n that therehas been shown locks. 25, 26,

nuiedlcs to be reciprocated.

a series of needles 11 and a series of jacks 12 and the said needles andjacks are shown in different positions and stages of movement inaccordance with the operation of the mechanism. The jack indicated bythe reference character a has been lifted by the means 14 so that itshead 17 abuts the t ail 19 of its related needle A and with its butt 18in thepath of the lock 38. .It is to be understood that in making.fan-cy stitches one or a plurality of jacks are lifted to pre senttheir butts 18 to the action of the lock 38. The cam face 44 in theforward movement of the carriage coactively engages the butt -18 to liftthe jack or jacks to impart movement to its or their related needles,which bringsthe butt 15 of the needle in a position to be acted upon bythe cam faces of the assemblage of needle locks. This latter action isindicated by the jacks b and needles B. The cam 62 of the device (31.prevents too rapid movementof the needles by virtue of the butt of theneedle coming into contact therewith and causing a pivot al movement ofthe device 61 and allowing the needle to pass smoothly along the way 43for reciprocation of the needle. The jacks are brought down to thepositions to which they have been lifted by the means 14, as indicatedby the jack d, with its re lated needle D in contacting relationship.

Upon the return movement of the carriage 13 the reciprocation oftheneedles is repeated. In the forward movement of the carriage thebutts 18 of the initially lifted jacks ride over the cam face 58 of thelock 55 which yields. Upon the return movement of the carriage the butts18 of the jacks are acted upon by the cam face 59 of the lock 55 thuscausing the jacks to move downto their normal positions respectively.-The needles D and jacks '(Z are those which are left in positions to beacted upon on the return of the carriage 13. The

needles G and jacks g are those not brought.

into play for the fancy stitching operation. The jacks are those whichindicate the action of the lock 55 in which it yields.

Figure 6 illustrates the different positions and movements of theneedles and jacks during the return movement of the carriage 13. Theaction of the locks being.

substantially the same as when the carriage moves in a forwarddirection, except that the lock 55 .comes into play; its cam face 59coa-cting with the butts 18 of the jacks indicatedat f to cause them tomove to their original positions to be acted upon. again by the means14.

F or doing plain stitching the locks 39 and 40 are moved into the spacebetween the locks 37 and 38 which causes all of the \Vhen the locks 39and 40 are moved into the space between l'hclocks 37 and 38 each moves'its adjacent cam 62 to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 7 Asstated, the action of the cams 62 is to somewhat arrest the speed of theneedles to prevent them from sticking or becoming lodged, and. saidcamsalso permit the needles to readily pass out of the way 43 due to themanner in which the respective devices 61 are mounted.

In Figs. 8 and 9 a modified form of the acter described, a set ofneedles, a set of jacks co-operable with the needles, a single lockassembly adjustable for both plain and fancy stitching and including aneedlelock having an upper section always operable on r the operatingneedles when knitting and also having shiftable lower sectionspositionable to constitute a part of the needle lock when plainstitching is being efl'ected and shiftable toan inoperative position andout of the path of the needles to provide a clearance to permit certainof the needles to idle when fancy stitching is effected, a shiftablejacklock shiftable to an operative position when fancy stitchingisefi'ected and shiftable to an inoperative position when plainstitching is being effected, and jacquard mechanism for elevating theselected jacks sufficiently to permit the selected jacks to engage thejack lock when the jack lock is in an operative position. a e

'2. In a knitting machine, a set of jacks, means for I'novablysupporting the jacks, and a coil spring having itsconvolutionsfrictionally engaged with the jacks, each jack beingreceived between and engaged by adjacent convolutions of the coilspring. 3. In a knitting machine, a set of jacks, means for movablysupporting the jacks, and a coil spring having its ends fixed to saidmeans and having its convolutions frictionally engaged with the jacksfor yieldably. holding the jacks in the different positions to w ichthey are moved.

ADoLPIr LEVITON. WILLIAM KAPLAN.

